Well if another company came along and took your job away from you by underbidding and then failing to deliver, how would you feel?

Crab it would appear that you are soothsayer.

Brother, I gather that there is time for you to qualify as a SAR pilot after all...

I have heard that Bristow have been asked to provide (continue to provide) LIMSAR for Shell and Inpex until the end of the year, due to the ongoing ATSB/CASA investigation into HNZ's "serious training incident".

That will be at least 6 months since the proposed contract start date, which was already watered down to be LIMSAR only.

Shell and Inpex are expecting HNZ to graduate to AWSAR 24/7 in February 18. Surely that can't be a realistic possibility, with the rate of progress at the moment?

Given that there are thousands of workers off shore, with Shell's flagship vessel Prelude inplace and the Ichthys at full capacity, the imminent cyclone season must be making the management of those companies slightly nervous (or maybe embarrassed).

To think that they could have had a 24/7 solution in place from the start.

Is there a precedent of an operator wining a contract (a contract that appears to have been modified to suit them at the last minute) and then not providing the service for at least 6 months? Surely the clients would tear it up and realise their mistake.

Is there anybody in the industry who can explain this abject failing?

Surely it cant be price alone? The HNZ bid must have been really cheap in comparison to the competitors, and presumably there are penalties for not fronting up?

It is barking mad - someone will get hung drawn and quartered if there is an incident/accident that needs a full SAR response and people die

Crab, you are speaking rubbish based on your limited industry knowledge outside England.

There is no regulatory requirement for Full SAR or any SAR in Australia. Oil companies provide Dedicated Lim SAR equipped aircraft with crew on site, 24 hour medevac cover incorporating Doctor and Paramedic on the helicopter as well as a 24 hour dedicated standby medical jet service also medically crewed.

Full SAR is a nice to have. With the above in place funded by industry on a “voluntary” basis, no one is going to get hung drawn and quartered.

When I saw your moniker 'industry insider' i naively thought that we might get an answer to some of the questions. Its good to know that boats don't sink at night, people don't fall over board after sunset, and nobody gets ill on a vessel without a deck after 6pm. Oh yeah and the weather is always good in Australia at night too.

Regardless, I.I. is quite right about the SAR support here in Oz. We're not supported in any way, shape or form in the manner that you may be used to in the UK before or after CivSAR came about.

Indeed, primary responsibility for SAR in most States is held by the State police force regardless of the capability or otherwise of their air assets. The coroner would be most unlikely to make an adverse finding because of a shortfall in a private company funded system.

Shell did set a precedence with the EC 225 AWSAR. HNZ did win the tender with a transitional bid. Unfortunately for them and Shell (& lastly, in the corporate minds, the offshore worker) this service had been a little slow in getting off the ground. If Shell were serious about safety, then they would have at least a medevac aircraft stationed offshore. This would half the time that it would take to recover a casualty to the beach..

Industry Insider - a quick look at the Shell Australia website sees them (and their partner at the time CHC) proudly proclaiming an AWSAR service in Broome from 2015. Shell's contract for covering the Prelude FLNG was for AWSAR, so it appears they were willing to pay for an AWSAR service. Perhaps their partner in this joint venture doesn't agree and its them that talked the quality down?

A little slow? Any slower and the gas will already be on the tankers to Asia!! Maybe HNZ SAR will be ready for the decommissioning phase Surely it's HNZ's rush to deliver a service frankly beyond their true capability, in a $$$ driven market, which is causing them the safety issues which the ATSB and CASA now find themselves investigating!! Why the unions are allowing Shell and Inpex to continue to allow this is staggering!

Numpty, the UK version of that - Jigsaw - didn't really take-off (no pun unintended...). I understand that the concept was for several helos off shore but it settled with one, based a platform on occasions but more often back at Aberdeen.

Numpty, the UK version of that - Jigsaw - didn't really take-off (no pun unintended...). I understand that the concept was for several helos off shore but it settled with one, based a platform on occasions but more often back at Aberdeen.

Yes, HNZ did win and no doubt they will likely achieve their version of FullSAR at some stage. They couldn't possibly fail any more than they have already, could they?! I just wonder how many other contracts HNZ will pick up on the back of this performance?!